Twitter plans to test many more experimental features in the coming months to make its platform more shopper-friendly.
What you need to know
- Twitter is testing a new card format to show tweets that contain links to e-commerce product pages.
- The new card format displays the product name, shop name, product price, and a ‘Shop’ button.
- Twitter had confirmed that it is starting to “explore ways to better support commerce” on its platform during its Investor Day last week.
Twitter has started experimenting with new shopping features, just a week after it confirmed it is working on exploring ways to better support commerce on its platform. The experiment was first spotted by social media consultant and industry commentator Matt Navarra.
Twitter is experimenting with new shopping features 🛍A NEW Twitter Card being tested for tweets containing links to product pages on a shop’s websiteNew-style Twitter Shopping Card shows- Product name- Shop name- Product price- ‘Shop’ button<-Old | New->ht @YasserM86 pic.twitter.com/8q5xLbbH2m
— Matt Navarra (@MattNavarra) March 2, 2021
“This is the first of many experiments in the commerce space and we will enrich the experience as we learn more,” a Twitter spokesperson told TechCrunch.
Twitter’s new “shopping-friendly” card format adds a big “Shop” button and product details into tweets that contain links to e-commerce product pages. The new format should make it a lot easier for creators on Twitter to share links to products and merchandise with their fans. As revealed by the company last month, it is working on a subscription product called “Super Follow.” It will allow Twitter users to subscribe to creators on the platform for a monthly fee and unlock subscriber-only perks such as community access, exclusive content, newsletters, deals, and a supporter badge.
Twitter isn’t the only social media company that is exploring the potential of commerce. Facebook rolled out a number of shopping features across its platforms last year — including Instagram and WhatsApp, which are among the best Android messaging apps. It has also started focusing on video-based shopping, which is quickly becoming popular on apps such as TikTok.
